Grandma/Mama -

In The Beginning



1988  Aunt Laura Kitchens-Mobley, Jonell & daughter Deanna



Down The Lane...and Around the Curve  http://mershongeorgiagirl.blogspot.com/

My Blogging began with a conversation with my Aunt Laura Mobley in   Mershon, Georgia.  She always  had time to sit and talk with us.  She and I were rehashing way back when memories.. some of which I had little to no actual memory.  As she talked about the event of my  birth [ and my twin Jurel ]  She made reference to the location with a wave of the arm, finger pointing and enunciating the words "right over yonder- Down the lane and around the curve-''  on the Youmans Place.

That conversation became my inspiration for the the first blog with the title Down the Lane and the little 3 room tenant farmer's house below is where I and my twin brother Jurel were born in 1941- Jurel only lived for two weeks. In 1991 when this picture below was taken we walked through the little house..amazingly it was fairly safe..only the porch was in falling down condition.  After asking permission we retrieved one of the original ceramic door knobs and a few bricks [from the chimney] and I have that door knob.   *In this conversation with Aunt Laura I discovered that it was My Grandma Williams who came to deliver the baby [ies]. I had not remembered hearing that. After this I was told by a cousin that Grandma Williams delivered all the grand babies.[ her name as midwife is not shown on my birth certificate] 

It is Gone Now 

Time changes so many things.  Loved ones are no longer here.  Landmarks disappear from the landscape.  Entire communities are seemingly erased. Homes have burned leaving scarcely a footprint in the earth where they once stood.  Even so, we still refer back to places the way they once were  as being ~Like Gramma's House~ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mobley/index.html

L-R First cousin Ileen. her Mother,
 Laura Mobley, Cousin Eulita and
 Grandma Rachel Lee Mobley

My Grandma Mobley was Rachel Lee-Mobley. married to Marion Albert Mobley.  I am from the James N. Mobley line if you are interested. I along with my Mother and younger two brothers and younger sister lived with our Mobley grandparents -at three different times of our lives. Because of that experience I cannot imagine not having a special bond and affection for one's grandparents. Here I share a few pictures [every one a treasure] and even more treasured memories and glimpses of Grandpa and Grandma, our times during "another life' as it now seems to me.

                                 

Marion Albert Mobley
[James N Mobley line]

Rachel Lee-Mobley

                                             

 I remember my Grandma Mobley's long,

long hair, not completely grey, not all

black but it had once been black.

I am almost certain she had never cut her hair. I watched her combing and rolling it into a flat 'bun' across the back of her head. securing it with "hair pins" [not 'bobbie pins]. mmm wondering what happened to her hair combs. What a treasure it would be to have those combs.  Yes I would use them.

Down the Lane & Around the Curve

 I remember Grandma sewing clothes for me on that treadle sewing machine. she cut the patterns herself from newpaper. I still remember one outfit she made for me. I must have been about 10 years old. It was a skirt, a waist [that's what they called a blouse] and a sash that tied in back. It was made from solid color feed sacks, white, pale yellow and equally soft color green. Of course it was starched -definitely a heavy starch. I can almost smell the freshly starched and ironed fabric as I visualize it now.

We all remember the scar above her left eyebrow on her forehead..she had a skin cancer removed. It almost looked as though it had been scooped out of her forehead. I was born in 1941 and I never remember her without that scar.


I never in my life thought about Grandma being short or tall until recently seeing old pictures of her and grandpa standing side by side. She is wearing a low heel pump and appears to be just a tad taller than he is..but then Grandpa was not a tall man either.


I remember talks with her when I got to be a young teenager. She really listened to me and she seemed to always be on 'my side' if there was a difference of opinion about an issue. I can still remember the smile and the sparkle in her eyes as we talked.

Grandma gave me and Ted a handmade quilt when we got married. Of course I appreciated it..but I really didn't value it as I would in later years. I must not have had good sense for about ten years after I married because I used that quilt in playpens with the babies and put it on the floor for them to play on..I have no idea when that quilt disappeared from our lives. 

I had a treasure from my Grandma and didn't even know it.

*post script: [2012] Since this initial text was posted above I  aquired two wonderful pieces of furniture that were  my Grandma Mobley's. This was an antique dresser base and [matching] chifferobe. A first cousin-once removed, asked if I would like to have it because she was buying new furniture. Surprisingly the two pieces made the trip from south Georgia to south Alabama without incident or broken mirrors. No work refinishing. It was not important they be perfect . I knew they would be treasures in our home because it was my Grandma Mobley's.

Grandma  Never left anything undone over night in her kitchen. She had to fill dishpans and heat water on the stove to wash dishes. When she left the kitchen every dish, pot and pan was washed dried and put away and her dishpans clean, dried and turned upside down.


http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mobley/index.html

She swept floors every day. That meant inside bedrooms, outside porches,everything!

I never remember her bed 'unmade'. It was always topped off with her pillows standing up and the pillow cases were always starched, ironed and showed off the colorful embroidered hand work on the ends. It was often flowers, a lady w basket of flowers, branches w little birds-Today I only buy all cotton white pillow cases with handwork like this for my extra bedrooms.

Grandma usually wore an 'everyday dress' more than one day but every day she put on a fresh Apron..the kind that goes over the neck and it always had a small pocket -think that was for the little can of snuff. Her aprons were often plain white but she did have flowered patterned fabric. Some were considered her "good aprons".

This  is NOT Grandma-
 It's a photo from a fb post
This shows an APRON like those use by my Grandma
and other women of that era

Any leftovers was always placed in the pie safe to be eaten as needed-what we would call snacks in between meals. There was always something there.

Grandma not only swept the entire house every day..she regularly swept the yard front, sides and back with what was called "yard brooms" which they made from small brush and tied the handles with strips of fabric scraps.

Those simple floors especially in the kitchen and dining room were scrubbed with hot soapy water and a corn shuck thing..what was it called? I can picture it and I could even design one for you..can't remember exactly what they called it. HELP! [time for a cousin call ]

On a recent [June 2013] tour of a local tourist attraction [the Pioneer Village & Museum, Troy, Al ] My sister and I spotted one of those [primitive] Scrub Brooms-yes indeed that is DRIED CORN SHUCKS

Remembering Mama-When I was a toddler it was "Mama" who allowed me to climb on a stool and help make the biscuits.

 I know I had to be in her way. That was my job.  I wonder how the biscuits looked.

When I was a preteen- before we used the term "preteen" I still called her MAMA...still as I became a teenager I called her MAMA. 

Years later as an adult I referred to her most often in conversation as my Mother.  She's been gone since 1973 and when I whisper some shared thought I wish she could hear I always whisper: "Mama." 

 Annie Bell Mobley-Williams taught me loyalty. I saw both humility and strength in her.  She was never honored by people around her but I do think I and my sister Gwen and brother Carl have honored her by the life we have each lived. I know she is rewarded in Heaven by her Heavenly Father. She knew him. Humanly I always feel my Mother deserved so much more on this earth but consider ETERNITY.. it balances out. 

My life has been richer because of who she was ...consequently my four children's lives have been richer.  We pass it on and share generously from the bounty of God's grace.  Mama would have been overwhelmed by the beauty, blessing and bounty in all our lives..His provison and goodness and mercy visible.